Recipes

For decades, Idaho sheep ranchers held their annual convention at the Sun Valley Resort. We loved dressing up for formal dinner on the final night and joining the other ranch families - Wilson, Little, Soulen, Shirts, Cenarussa, Rich, Guerry, Etcheverry, Egbert, Enget, Ball, Peavy, Faulkner, Oxaranga, Noh, Laidlaw, Wixom, Dalling, and so many more. The door prizes were Pendleton blankets, and we always seemed to win at least one. My brother, J.C., still talks about how much he loved the roast leg of lamb with cherry sauce. I developed this recipe for him. It may be a 1970s throwback, but it is still delicious today.

Ingredients:

• Boneless leg of lamb (about 4 pounds)

Ingredients for Marinade:

• ½ cup red wine vinegar
• ½ cup dry red wine
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, mashed
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 2 tsp coarse salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Ingredients for Cherry Sauce:

• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted (or ½ cup dried cherries)
• 1 Tbs chopped shallot
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 Tbs butter
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

• Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl or resealable bag. Leaving the boneless leg of lamb in its netting, add it to the marinade and refrigerate overnight. Turn at least once to distribute the marinade.
• After allowing the lamb to marinate overnight, remove the lamb from the marinade and dab lightly with a paper towel to dry. Discard the marinade.
• Arrange the leg on a rack in a roasting pan and allow it to come to room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F. 
• Roast the leg uncovered in the oven for approximately 25 minutes per pound.
• In the meantime, make the cherry sauce by combining the wine, cherries, and shallot in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the mixture is almost dry. Then, add the chicken broth, lower the heat to medium, and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour the sauce through a sieve. Discard any solid pieces. Return the sauce to the saucepan, continue cooking over medium heat until the sauce has thickened and lightly coats the back of a spoon. At that point, add the butter and season with salt and pepper. Keep the sauce warm until ready to serve. 
• Remove the leg from the oven when it reaches an internal temperature of 125° F. Rely on the temperature reading rather than time in the oven for doneness.
• Increase the oven temperature as high as it will go - up to 500° F. When the oven is hot, return the leg roast to the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes to achieve a crispy sear on the outside of the roast. Then, remove the roast from the oven and allow it to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
• To carve the roast, remove the netting. Then cut 1/4 inch slices. Serve immediately with the cherry sauce. 

Kabob Variation:

• To enjoy this recipe on skewers, prepare the leg by removing the netting. Then cut into 1 ½ inch cubes, removing large fat or connective tissue. Marinade the cubes for 2-4 hours in the refrigerator. In the meantime, soak skewers if you are using wood, and make the cherry sauce. When ready to cook the lamb, heat a grill or broiler to 425° F. Load the meat cubes on skewers. Place the skewers on the grill and turn every three minutes until crisp on the outside and cooked to an internal temperature of 140° F - about 12 minutes. Serve with the cherry sauce.